Share hire e-scooters to be banned from Melbourne’s CBD

The controversial e-scooter share hire scheme is set to be dumped by the council after a surge in complaints over “serious issues”.

Share hire e-scooters are set to be banned from Melbourne’s CBD.

Share hire e-scooters are set to be booted from Melbourne’s CBD following a surge in complaints from city residents and businesses, who called for the scheme to be scrapped.

The Herald Sun understands that Lord Mayor Nick Reece will on Tuesday move an amended motion at a Future Melbourne committee meeting to cancel the contracts with e-scooter providers Lime and Neuron, which operate in the City of Melbourne.

The motion is expected to be carried with the support of a majority of councillors.

If the contracts are torn up, share hire e-scooters are set to be removed from the City of Melbourne by mid-September, with the council contractually obliged to give the operators 30 days’ notice.

The council is set to cancel its contracts with e-scooter providers Lime and Neuron. Picture: David Crosling

This means only private e-scooters will be able to be ridden within the City of Melbourne, which covers not only the Hoddle Grid but suburbs including Carlton and Southbank.

The move comes days after a report to the Future Melbourne committee meeting from council management recommended a raft of new measures to crack down on unsafe and dangerous ­riding around the city.

The measures included capping the number of e-scooters allowed to operate in the city, steeper fines and new ­exclusion zones.

However, it is understood that the amended motion was floated on Monday after scores of residents and business owners across the municipality contacted councillors, calling on them to simply scrap the e-scooter scheme altogether.

There are currently about 1500 share hire e-scooters operating in the city under the scheme, which had the support of former lord mayor Sally Capp.

There are currently about 1500 share hire e-scooters operating in the city.

Last week, Mr Reece said that while the scheme had been popular in Melbourne, there had also been “serious issues”. 

“I admit I was a supporter of the e-scooters when they when first started, but I am fed up with the rule breaking and seeing the scooters strewn all over the city like rubbish, cluttering our footpaths and creating a trip hazard and mobility challenges,” he said on Friday.

“Riders continue to break the law, endangering others and themselves, creating a nuisance on our streets.”

He added: “Most riders do the right thing — but some continue to break the law. They endanger themselves and others by riding on footpaths, riding without helmets, double-dinking and leaving e-scooters thrown across the city like rubbish.”

Former lord mayor Sally Capp takes a Lime e-scooter for a ride in 2022. Picture: Andrew Henshaw

Former deputy lord mayor Arron Wood, who is running for lord mayor in the upcoming local council election against Mr Reece, said Town Hall was “in chaos”.

“Just last weekend, the Lord Mayor was talking about tough new measures while talking up scooters as a valuable part of Melbourne’s transport mix,” he said.

“No less than 48 hours later, we hear that the Lord Mayor may move a motion tomorrow night to tear up scooter contracts without any due process.

“This is a Town Hall leadership that is in chaos and sadly its our local residents and local business owners who have paid the price.”

Mr Wood pledged last week to ban e-scooters from the Hoddle Grid, if elected, and to reduce speed limits to 12 km/hr for those riding elsewhere in the City of Melbourne.

In May, Ms Capp told the Herald Sun that the decision by the state government to extend the e-scooter trial for a third time had “delayed” critical safety improvements.

“We are keen to move into the next phase of commercial relationships with operators in Melbourne … and we aren’t able to do that while the trials are extended,” she said at the time.

Last month, the state government announced it will allow share hire e-scooters to operate permanently from October – but it is up to councils to enter into contracts with operators.

Share hire e-scooters will continue to be available in the City of Port Phillip and the City of Yarra.

More than 8.5 million trips have been made using Lime and Neuron e-scooters since the e-scooter trial launched in February 2022.

E-scooter crashes sent more than 180 people to St Vincent’s Hospital alone in the six months to April, while 272 patients were admitted to The Alfred with e-scooter injuries in the five years to May 2022.